How to make it thru LVN school

[bcskittlez]

Any pointers anybody. I will take any and all advice. What pens, pencils, notepads, recorders, how to listen, how to think, how to study... anything that will help spell success.

Thanks alot!

:Melody:

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Just set aside one to two hours daily for study, and carefully read all your chapters. In addition, don't read into your test questions too much. A good portion of your LVN program will focus on teaching the students how to properly answer NCLEX-style test questions that require critical thinking as opposed to plain memorization.

[bcskittlez]

Thanks, Do they do less clinical time that RN nurses. Will we do a round in the OR? What exactly do they not teach you in LVN school that they teach you in RN school?

[Fiona59]

Lets see, during my clinicals I spent one day in OR. Up here OR Tech is a specialty that PN's apply for after a year's experience, so it's a six month course with a separate clinical time.

We don't do IV meds up here for the most part and the A&P is not as indepth as the RN's. But believe it or not we did more clinical time than the local RN programmes.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Thanks, Do they do less clinical time that RN nurses.

During my 1-year LVN program I completed 1,600 hours worth of clinical rotations, which exceeds the amount of clinical hours completed by many BSNs. In an LVN program you will accrue an amount of clinical hours that is either equal to or greater than the hours completed by your counterparts who attend an RN program. After all, the LVN program tends to emphasize skills.

[Kate28]

During my 1-year LVN program I completed 1,600 hours worth of clinical rotations, which exceeds the amount of clinical hours completed by many BSNs. In an LVN program you will accrue an amount of clinical hours that is either equal to or greater than the hours completed by your counterparts who attend an RN program. After all, the LVN program tends to emphasize skills.

exactly. I did about that in my LVN program as well. I spent at least a week in each of the specialties in the hospital and countless hours on the Med/Surg or Telemetry floor.

[Hoping LVN2BSN]

The best piece of advice I ever got was from an instructor: "Read to understand, not to memorize." If you can figure that out, you've pretty much got it made. You want to understand, not just memorize. That will help you on your way to critically thinking effectively for the NCELX and in practice. I learned not to far into the program that they are not going to teach you everything, but if you have a solid understanding and are able to effectively critically think, you should do wonderfully.

Also just from personal experience, when you are in clinical don't forget your watch, kind of hard to accurately take a pulse and pass certain meds when you don't have one.

[bcskittlez]

Thanks Hoping!

[mighdeetee]

Hi,

MedSurg seemed like the most challenging part. To help me with understanding, I would read the chapter first before the lecture. When the lecture occurs, the information you just read will be reinforced.

To help me with the tests, I would read the care plans. My MedSurg book had care plans for whatever disease it was talking about. That helped me ALOT with answering the test questions at school. Also, the questions at the end of each chapter helped too.

Good luck.